Stamp-canceler and postmarker



(N0 Modei. 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. S. B. HOLMES & J. W. MILAM. STAMP OANGBLER AND POSTMARKER.

No. 597,981. Patented Jan 25,1898.

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3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

s B. HOLMESS: J. w. MILAM. STAMP UANCELER AND PO$TMARKER.

No, 597,981. I Patented-Jan. 25,1898.

(No Model.)

(No Model.) a SheetsSheet 3.

S. B. HOLMES 81; J. W. MILAM. STAMP GANOELER AND POSTMARKER.

No: 597,981. Patented Jam= 25,1898

1 w Li minim UNITED STATES PATENT muss.

SAMUEL l3. HOLMES AND JOHN W. MILAM, OF FRANKFORT, KENTUCKY.

STAM P-CANCELER AND POSTMARKER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 597,981, dated January 25, 1898.

Application filed November 21,1896.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that W6,SAMUEL B. I-IoLMEs and JOHN W. MILAM, citizens of the United States, residing at Frankfort, Franklin county, State. of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stamp-Gancelers and Postmarkers,of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to the canceling and stamping of letters; and the object of our invention is a machine for this purpose which can be constructed ata moderate cost, is rapid and efficient in operation, and which can be actuated, if necessary, by hand; and to this end we have devised a construction fully set forth hereinafter and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a longitudinal elevation of our machine for canceling and stamping letters. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is a plan view, and Fig. 4 a diagrammatic plan view, illustrating a combination-machine.

The frame A is constructed in any suitable manner to support the operating parts of the machine, and has at each side four standards 1 2 3 4, thestandards 1 and 3 supportingthe bearings for two shafts 5 and 6 and the standards 2 supporting between ,them a table 7, over whichpasses a carrier-belt 8, that passes around the pulleys 9 10 upon the shafts 5 6. One of the shafts 5 or 6 is a driving-shaft and is provided with a band-pulley or gear when the machine is driven by a motor or with a crank when the machine is driven by hand.

The table 7 is inclined slightly upward from the point where its end meets the periphery of the pulley 9, and at one side of the table and at one side of the belt 8 is a gage-plate 12, against which is placed the pile of letters to be fed to the printer or canceling device.

At the end of the plate 12 nearest the printer is arranged between two brackets 13 13 a hinged gate 14:, which when inthe position shown in Fig. 1, full lines, hangs with its lower edge in proximity to the surface of the belt 8, a spring l5, connected with one of the brackets 13 and with the gate, tending to hold the gate in its vertical position, but yielding if a letter thicker than usual should tend to swing out the gate to permit the letter to pass below the same.

The standards 2 carry side guards 16,which Serial No. 612,983. (No model.)

extend opposite the edges of the belt 8, past the pulley l0, and thence downward, forming with a bottom plate 17 an inclined chute for delivering the letters, after canceling, to a receptacle T. v a

With the carrier-belt is combined a suitable canceling device. As shown, this canceling device is supported by a frame B, connected with a shaft 18, rocking in bearings in the standards a, the frame B carrying a canceling device in the shape of a printing-roller l9, supplied with ink by distributing-rollers 2O 20, to one of which ink is supplied by a roller2l, turning in a well 22, carried by the frame. A spring 23 tends to draw down the frame B and to carry the printing-roller 19 toward the carrier-belt 8, and by arranging the printing-roller 19 at one side of the vertical plane of the axis of the shaft 6 there is a greater tendency to cause the printing-roller to maintain contact with the belt than if the printingu'oller was arranged directly above the shaft 6. In other words, the pivot of the said frame B is so disposed that the axis of .the printing-roller is slightly in advance of a line passing through the axis of the adjacent belt-pulley and the pivot of the frame.

In stamp-canceling machines as heretofore constructed various appliances and means have been employed for insuring the proper feeding and carrying of the letters, which appliances are often costly, complex, and frequently uncertain in their actions. Other complex, costly, and sometimes uncertain ap now in use in larger offices, and yet capable of being duplicated or extended so as to serve the purposes of such larger mechanisms. b In the course of our experiments we have found that a properly-prepared belt will take sumcient hold of the surface of the letter to feed found that a belt arranged as shown in the drawings and made of leather with the rough or unfinished side outermost and upon which a mixture of oil and rosin has been applied will effectively operate to feed along the lower letter of a pile placed upon the belt above the table 7. The mass of letters may be supported in position by means of the hand, the

fingers extending forward so as to act as a gate to retain all except the lowermost letter, which will be carried outward with but little tendency to carry with itthe letters above.

' The hinged gate 14 has the spring 15, and in order to regulate the normal position of the gate we add any suitable adj ustable stop, as,

for instance, a screw-rod 22, which may be turned to set the gate at any suitable incline.

'In some instances where it is desirable to increase the capacity of the machine a series of pulleys and belts may be employed, as shown in Fig. 4:, where each shaft carries three pulleys, and there are three sets of printing devices, one of which may carry a canceling-stamp. and the other two receiving-stamps,' or the-stamps may be of any other suitable character-for instance,

all alike, in which case the rotation of one of the shafts by hand or otherwise will result in canceling or stamping three times as many letters as where a single belt and pair of pulleys are employed.

Heretofore it has been considered necessary, as before stated, to make but a single impression upon the letter, demanding complex mechanism for causing the stamp to rise and fall relative to the ends of succeeding letters at different distances apart. We have discarded such appliances and have provided a single rotary printing-roller, upon the surface of which we preferably place two simi- 'lar series of type or canceling devices, so

that the shortest letter passing beneath the roller will receive at least one impression, while longer letters will receive two or more impressions. This not only dispenses with the complex mechanism before referred to, but it insures the date upon the stamp being more certainly imprinted than when a single impression is made. This arrangement also permits the continued rotation of the printing-roll in one direction and avoids any necessity of stopping and starting the same.

In some cases it is desirable to prevent the contact of the printing-roll with the belt, and We therefore provide means whereby the roll is maintained out of contact with the belt at all times, but whereby it is caused to press firmly upon and imprint any letter passing beneath the same. Thus, as shown in Fig. 1,

a finger or plate 25, connected to a rock-shaft 26, turning in the standard 27 at one side of the belt, is in position to have its lower end raised just as the edge of a letter approaches theroller 19. This liftingof the end of the finger or plate may be the means of making or breaking an electric circuit or operating any other appliance whereby as the end of the letter moves the finger the printing-roller will be brought in contact with the letter and will so remain until the letter passes from contact with the finger, when the roller will be lifted- As shown, the lifting-motor is a solenoid S, the core of which is connected to toggle-levers 28, one of which is jointed to an arm 29 on the rock-shaft 18, so that when the solenoid is excited and the core drawnin the toggles will be straightened and the shaft 18 rocked to lift up the printing-roller. The

finger 25 is connected with a suitabl.ecircuit-- being in circuit withthe solenoid and with a generator when the finger 25 is upon the belt.

We have before referred to the fact that the letters may be properly fed to the belt by means of the hand without depending upon the gate 14. can be done without dispensingpermanently with the use of the gate by slipping the spring l5-from its bearing atone end and then turning the gate back to the position shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1.

It will be seen that as above constructed the machine is exceedingly simple and capable of being constructed at a very moderate cost, and we have found by practical tests that it will operate with certainty and great rapidity and with the use of so little power that except for post-offices of the largest class one of the machines may be turned by one hand and the feeding regulated by the other to effectively cancel all the letters required in daily operation.

While we have referred to a leather belt,

it of course Will be understood that a belt of rubber having a suitably-prepared surfaceas, for instance, a velvet surface-may be employed. It will also be understood that the construction of the different parts of the apparatus may be. varied without departing from the main features of our invention.

Without limiting ourselves to the precise construction and arrangements of parts shown, we claim as our invention- 1. In a machine for canceling stamps, the combination of a table, a continuously-travcling belt extending over the table, a printing-roller supported to turn freely under the action of letters carried by the belt and in contact with the entire length of each letter, a gage for supporting a pile of letters resting directly on the belt, the surface of the belt adapted to frictionally engage and carry the letters, and the whole arranged as set forth When this is desired, it

to permit the letters to be carried successively and Without stopping from the pile to and beneath the roller, substantially as described.

2. The combination with the traveling belt and its supporting-table, of a guard-plate 12, and a hinged gate 14, a spring for throwing the gate downward, and an adjustable stop bearing against the gate, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the belt, and means for supporting a body of letters upon and flatwise of the belt in vertical column, of a gate swinging outward from said column of letters, and a spring for drawing the same back, and means for supporting the gate horizontally when turned up out of action, substantially as described.

a. The combination of a traveling belt and its supporting-pulleys, of a pivoted frame carrying a printing-roller, the pivot of the said frame being so disposed that the axis of the belt, a printing or canceling device, and

means for supporting a series of letters above each belt, and for feeding the same successively, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof .We have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

, SAML. B. HOLMES. JOHN W. MILAM.

Witnesses:

B. C. MILAM, D. H. SINCLAIR. 

